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Thursday, July 24, 2014

5 SECRETS (What No One Knows About My Book)

Our
guest author today is Heather Haven, who is going to share some tidbits about
the writing of her book that no one knows--until today.

Heather
attended the University of Miami and ended up as a writer in New York City,
writing humorous commercials and ad copy for No Soap Radio. There she fulfilled
her dream of writing comedy and getting paid for it. She has also written
comedy acts for performers, television treatments, and two one-act plays, which were produced at several places, including
Playwrights Horizon. Once, she even ghostwrote a book on how to run an
employment agency. She was unemployed at the time.

Heather's
first novel of the humorous Alvarez Family Murder Mystery Series, Murder is a Family Business, won
the Single Titles Reviewers' Choice Award 2011. The second, A Wedding to Die For, received the
2012 finalist nods from both Global and EPIC for Best eBook Mystery of the
Year. The third of the series, Death
Runs in the Family, won the Gold, Dan Poynter's Global eBook Award
Mystery Fiction 2013. Stand-alone noir mystery, Death of a Clown, is winner of the IPPY Silver for Best
Mystery/thriller 2014. The novel is steeped in Heather's family history at
Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. She brings the Big Top to life
during World War II, embellished by her own murderous imagination. The Dagger Before Me and Iced Diamonds, Books One and Two
of the humorous Persephone Cole Vintage Mysteries, were #1 in Amazon's
Historical Mystery and General Humorous categories, October 2013.

DEATH OF A CLOWN

Five
Things About Death of a Clown No One Knows:

1
– Jeri Deane’s two best friends, Margie and Doris, are based on my mother’s two
best friends in the circus, but in name only. I never met either one of them.
As I did with the protagonist, Jeri, I built the characters around stories Mom
told me about their close relationship throughout her years at Ringling
Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus. In a way, they were muses numbers two and
three.

2
– The story started for me one day when I asked Mom about the photo of her on
an elephant and the clown standing in front of her. She couldn’t remember who
he was. I thought to myself, is this unknown clown still alive? Who was he? I
went about inventing his character.

3
– I still have the original costume Mom wore in the photo on the book cover.
How it survived all these years, I’ll never know. But now that she is gone, I
treasure it all the more.

4
– All the elephants’ names in the book are real. So are their personalities,

as
told to me by my mother. Elephants, like humans, have very distinctive
personalities.

5
– Speaking of elephants, while I cannot comment on smaller, lesser circuses,
the pachyderms under the Big Top were treated well, as were the rest of the
animals. Aside from the fact that people like my father were forerunners of the
idea of kindness and love, the owners wanted the animals – a huge investment on
their part – to live long and stay healthy. Performers were encouraged to establish
relationships along those lines with the animals. Anyone found mistreating an
animal was either reprimanded or dismissed immediately, depending on the
severity of the deed. As to whether or not they should be taken out of their
original habitats, I am on the fence, considering the horrors of poaching out
there.

Blurb:

IPPY
Silver for Best Mystery/Thriller 2014
The year is 1942. Already weary from the Great Depression, the U.S. has joined
the Allied Forces in their war against the Axis Powers. Fear and uncertainty is
everywhere. Never has the circus soothed so many seeking refuge in its magic,
if only temporarily. But there is no shelter from murder, even under the Big
Top. Up and coming circus performer, Jeri Deane, finds a young clown strangled
inside a beloved lion's cage. The town sheriff's threat to close down the Big
Top won't stop her from finding his killer. Beneath the spangles and sawdust of
the canvas sky, Jeri uncovers deceit, treachery, and secrets more dangerous
than any death-defying trick in the show. Even she has much to hide. If the Big
top survives the season, will she be able to face her own hidden past?
Heather Haven is the daughter of real-life Ringling Brothers and Barnum and
Bailey Circus folk. Her mother was a trapeze artist/performer and father, an
elephant trainer. Heather brings the daily existence of the Big Top to life
during World War II, embellished by her own murderous imagination.

A CHRISTMAS ANTHOLOGY

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About Me

I'm a Canadian author who writes murder, mystery, medical thrillers, romantic suspense, often set in Montana on a ranch. I recently dived into self-publishing and I love the challenge. It's exciting. Hunted was my first novel, then Missing and Targeted, the third in the series, set in Montana. Another series about an assistant PI, A Cruise to Remember and A Murder to Forget . By Design, on cloning. And I'm working on Death Southern Style set in New Orleans. I'm hoping to finish it by the end of September. Check them out and let me know what you think.